Understanding Scientists' Beliefs about the Public and Public Communication

Among other factors, beliefs about the public, about the relationship between science and the public, and about communication effects are likely to influence how scientists communicate with the public. Scientists, for example, may apply an information dissemination perspective or look for interaction and dialog, they may adopt a paternalistic attitude towards the public or perceive it as an equal partner, or they may want to keep the public out of science or be prepared to involve it in decision-making and knowledge production. The so-called "deficit model" and the "public engagement model" are antithetic conceptualizations of public science communication and are used in this presentation to categorize beliefs held by researchers about their audience and public communication.

Based on surveys of researchers in the United States, Europe and Asia, we explore scientists' beliefs related to the deficit and engagement models and analyze how these beliefs vary by age, gender, status, academic field and country. In particular, we investigate the thesis that younger researchers differ from their older peers in that they more strongly welcome dialog, public participation in science, and direct interactions with the public rather than information dissemination by mass media.

The results indicate that beliefs consistent with the deficit model are widespread among researchers in the United States, Europe and Asia, although the engagement and dialog rhetoric of the current normative discourse on public science communication is also reflected in their answers to survey questions. Overall, the hypothesis that younger researchers (< 40 years) tend to hold beliefs more congruent with the public engagement model than members of older age cohorts is not supported by the data, making the hypothesis that beliefs and preferences consonant with the engagement model stem, in part, from a generational change among researchers implausible. Few age effects are statistically significant and their direction is inconsistent. In several instances, the relationship between holding certain beliefs and age is not linear: young and old scientists are relatively similar, but both differ from the mid-career group. Contrary to expectations, younger researchers in Germany and the UK tend to be more skeptical about the competence of the public than older researchers, and the statement that "the public should have a say in the regulation of scientific activities and applications" is rejected by younger and more senior researchers alike.